Popular Arma 3 Hosting Companies

What is Arma 3 Server Hosting?

Arma 3 is one of the top games on Steam by concurrent player count, despite being released years ago. It’s an open world, military sandbox shooter that gives you the reigns and allows you to play as you’d like.

Arma 3 aims to simulate real military combat, and it does so quite well. Using bullet trajectory simulation, tools like compasses, range finders, and scopes, all of the military devices and vehicles you can think of, and a massive map, Arma 3 is even used for military training simulations.

Unfortunately, the complexity of the game makes it incredibly demanding on gaming systems. Running Arma 3 is hard enough, and trying to do so while hosting an Arma 3 server on the same PC is pretty much impossible. This is especially the case if you’re hosting a large slot count server.

Enter Arma 3 server hosting!

You can pay Arma 3 hosting providers to host the server for you. They take care of everything, from deployment to mod support.

Hosting providers are running 24/7, so you don’t have to leave your computer on either.

Instead of worrying about the technical crap, you can focus on what’s essential: tearing it up on the battlefield!

Renting an Arma 3 Server vs. Hosting Your Own

You can host your own Arma 3 server on your PC, although I’d highly recommend you rent a server instead.

Here’s why:

Arma 3 isn’t optimized well in the first place. Even top-tier gaming PCs have trouble breaking 60 FPS at max settings, not to mention the extra demand required by mods.

Notoriously CPU intensive, Arma 3 sucks the power out of your rig. The huge map, projectile simulation, and high slot servers consume your CPU power faster than the fat lady down the road can pound a Big Mac.

Hosting a server at the same time? Forget about it.

On top of having to run the game (which is hard enough), your PC now has to host the entire server at the same time. That means keeping track of everything, everyone, and more.

If you thought Arma 3 was laggy before, try hosting a server and playing at the same time. Now, you and everyone else on the server will lag too, since they depend on your computer’s already mediocre performance.

Hosting a dedicated server on your PC for a game like Terraria is different. Terraria isn’t very intensive on its own (it’s 2D), and having a few friends on your server isn’t intensive either.

But the more assets and players on the server, the more resource-intensive it becomes. Arma 3 is one of the most demanding games on Steam, and hosting a server is pretty intensive too.

Best Arma 3 Hosting Companies

Streamline Servers

Hosting Provider

Streamline Servers is one of the best hosting companies around. They're a bit pricey, but you get your money's worth. Streamline Servers are the fastest we've tested, and they have a terrific support team as well.

Streamline Servers have been hosting Arma games since the original launch. They’re also highly recommended by Arma 3 server hosts in Arma forums around the web.

This established hosting company has terrific support, performance, and fair pricing, making them the best all-around pick for Arma 3 hosting.

Streamline Servers’ Arma 3 packages are $1.50 per slot, starting at ten slots ($15/month) and going all the way up to 100 slots ($150/month). Their servers are available in 22 locations and include Arma 3 Epoch and Exile hosting.

Their servers are not the lowest price per slot, but not the most expensive either. With instant installation, low ping, global locations, modding support, and a custom control panel, hosting with Streamline Servers is worth every penny.

GTX Gaming has a custom control panel for Arma 3 Exile, designed to make hosting the game as straightforward as possible.

They also have instant setup, meaning you can buy a server specifically made for Arma 3 Exile, rather than having to set up the mod yourself.

The Exile server can also be swapped for another Arma 3 game mode, or another game altogether with their game switching feature.

GTX Gaming’s Arma 3 Exile servers start at 0.99 Euros per slot for a ten slot server, the minimum player count offered. Their price per slots gets cheaper as you scale up, which is helpful for hosts that want a large server.

The largest server offered by GTX Gaming for Arma 3 Exile is 120 slots, coming in at roughly 0.47 Euros per slot.

Considering GTX Gaming’s instant deployment, countless features, and fair pricing, they’re great for anyone who wants to host a modded Arma 3 server, especially with a high slot count.

Best Arma 3 Life Server Hosting

PingPerfect

Game Servers

Not only do they have great servers and an awesome control panel, they also have an amazing support team. Their responsiveness and helpfulness absolutely blew me away, especially when compared to the other companies on this list.

PingPerfect is one of my favorite hosting companies across the board for reasons outlined in our review (click the link to check it out).

Arma 3 Life is another popular game mode, and PingPerfect takes the cake when it comes to Arma 3 Life hosting.

They have instant deployment Arma 3 Life servers starting at $0.56 per slot, but their customers receive discounts when they make longer-term commitments.

If you buy three months of hosting up front, you save 5%; a semi-annual commitment will save you 10%, and annual payments will save you 15%.

PingPerfect’s Arma 3 Life servers start at 30 slots and go up to a maximum of 100 slots. PingPerfect also offers free web hosting with all of its game servers so that you can set up a website for your server’s community.

Best Arma 3 KOTH Server Hosting

NFO Servers

Game Hosting

NFO Servers are highly rated and reviewed in the Arma 3 hosting community. They guarantee high performance and unmetered bandwidth with every hosting package, and have a ton of experience hosting Arma servers.

Their Arma 3 servers start at approximately $0.90 per slot for a 50 slot server, and their servers have a maximum slot count of 80.

NFO has relatively cheap pricing per slot, but considering the lowest slot count you can buy is 50, the entry price is still pretty high (~$45).

Nevertheless, many Arma 3 hosts swear by NFO’s performance, customer support, and control panel. If you’re running a large Arma 3 KOTH server and want to save as much money per player as you can, NFO Servers is the move.

You can save some money by choosing an Arma 3 host that doesn’t support mods, but you’ll almost surely regret it later on. If you want to switch to a hosting company that supports mods, you’ll need to migrate the server (and the player base), which is a massive pain in the neck.

Conversely, you can choose a hosting company like GTX Gaming. They have instantly deployable servers for Arma 3 mods, which is pretty awesome. But better still, they feature game switching, which allows you to switch from game to game (or mod to mod) without having to migrate the server yourself, or buy another one.

That convenience comes at an added cost compared to cheaper hosting companies, though, so it depends on your specific needs. If you know you’re only going to host one game mode for the life of your server, paying a premium for that flexibility isn’t worth it.

Distance From You and Your Players

All gamers have one thing in common: they hate lag. You don’t have to be a die-hard Arma 3 fan to agree with that, but Arma veterans hate lag more than most.

Full-scale battles can get pretty intense, especially when competitive teams are fighting each other.

The farther you are from your server, the slower your connection will be. Whether you want to host your Arma server for fun with friends, practice with a team or you want to grow a large community, excellent performance is essential.

Aside from choosing an excellent hosting company, making sure your server is close in physical proximity to you and your friends is one of the best ways to maximize your server’s performance.

Performance

If you want to play Arma 3 with playable framerates, you ought to have a pretty powerful gaming PC. Likewise, Arma 3 servers need to have the right hardware for the job.

Theoretically, the game server company allocates more of its hardware’s performance to accommodate a higher slot count server, but shady companies might sacrifice your performance to make an extra buck.

That’s why the importance of choosing a reputable hosting company cannot be overstated (like the ones above).

Here are the minimum performance requirements for an Arma 3 server, according to the official wiki:

CPU: 2.4GHz dual-core processor

RAM: 2GB

Storage: 32GB HDD

OS: Linux/Windows Server 2008 (or better)

Here are the recommended Arma 3 server requirements (these are the numbers you want to hit):

CPU: 3.5GHz quad-core processor

RAM: 4GB+

Storage: 32GB SSD

OS: Linux/Windows Server 2008 (or better)

Those numbers don’t specify the slot counts, however, meaning your performance may vary depending on how many players are on your server. Modded Arma 3 server hosting will also require more performance than vanilla hosting.

What’s the bottom line here?

If you’re hosting a small server, you can probably get by with the minimum specs. But if you’re hosting a large server that needs top-notch performance, it’s best to spend more on top-notch hardware.

Dedicated Hosting vs. VPS Hosting for Arma 3

VPS hosting is not going to cut it for the majority of games, especially Arma 3. VPS servers share resources with several different people, limiting the power available to your server. VPS hosting services are okay for most websites, but that’s not the case for gaming.

With a dedicated server, on the other hand, you’re getting access to the full power of the hardware you’re renting, meaning you won’t have to worry about someone else sucking up your server’s resources.

All of the Arma 3 hosting companies above offer dedicated, pre-configured game servers that are immediately ready for use.

In conclusion, if you’re hosting an Arma 3 server, go with a dedicated host (unless you want to lag your butt off, which you don’t).

Arma 3 Modded Server Hosting

Arma 3 is like a kitchen, and the modders are cooks, who can turn the game into whatever experience they want. The game can be torn down to its shell and built back up again to become whatever you want.

Here are some of the most popular Arma 3 game modes:

Arma 3 Life Server Hosting

Altis Life is a life simulator where you role-play one of two characters: police officer and civilian.

This popular Arma 3 mod can be played without downloading any mods or anything like that. You can filter for them in the Arma 3 server browser, and you’ll see a list of Altis Life servers appear. Once you join a Life server, you’ll automatically download the files.

However, hosting an Altis Life server is a bit different. Some hosts require you to buy Arma 3 server hosting and add the Altis Life mod later on in their control panel, which is a bit of a pain in the neck.

Instead, we recommend using a host that has instant deployment for Altis Life servers. That way, you can be up and running in no time.

GTX Gaming is probably the best Altis Life server hosting company. They offer instant deployment and game switching, meaning you can switch your server between Altis Life, regular Arma 3 game modes, and other Arma 3 mods.

Arma 3 Exile Server Hosting

Arma 3 Exile mod is much like DayZ, based on an Arma mod in the first place.

If you’re interested in Arma 3 Exile server hosting, GTX Gaming remains one of the best options. They have a lot of experience with Arma 3 Exile hosting, and instant Exile server deployment.

Arma 3 Antistasi Server Hosting

Renting an Antistasi server is a bit different than Exile or Life because Antistasi is a mission, rather than a game mode. That means you have to rent an Arma 3 server and upload the mission on the server.

Any of the Arma 3 hosting companies above will do, but Streamline Servers is highly recommended in Arma 3 forums and discussion groups on the web. They’ve been around for more than ten years, hosting Arma since the original release.

Streamline Servers has great Arma hosting support, terrific performance, and have good reviews as well. Best of all, they have to host locations all around the world.

Arma 3 KOTH Server Hosting

Arma 3 KOTH (King of the Hill) is a popular multiplayer objective-based control mission, where three teams fight for control of the hill. Players can employ the entire arsenal of Arma 3 weapons, vehicles, and gear, although some KOTH servers turn vehicles off.

KOTH is an Arma 3 mission. That means setting up an Arma 3 KOTH server is similar to setting up an Antistasi server.

Most hosting companies don’t offer instant deployment for Arma 3 KOTH - instead, you have to rent an Arma 3 server and configure the KOTH game mode yourself.

Arma 3 Hosting FAQ

Here are some of the most commonly asked questions I receive about Arma 3 server hosting:

How much does an Arma 3 server cost?

Arma 3 servers vary in price, ranging from around $20 per month to $80 per month and sometimes even more. Like Squad hosting, Arma 3 hosting is a bit more expensive than other games, because it’s a demanding title.

Most hosting companies charge based on the slot count of your server. Since Arma 3 servers typically have huge player counts (it is a large scale military simulator, after all), they can get pricey.

How much RAM do you need for an Arma 3 server?

How many cores for Arma 3 server?

In our tests, we found that Arma is barely multithreaded, meaning single-threaded performance is the largest indicator of server performance.

You don’t need more than a dual-core CPU for Arma 3 hosting, although they do recommend a quad-core CPU if possible. Still, CPU clock speed and the instructions per clock (power of the CPU) is more important than core count.

For more information on CPU performance, check out our full guide on choosing a CPU.

Arma 3 Dedicated Server

As mentioned previously, hosting an Arma 3 dedicated server yourself isn’t the best idea unless you have a PC you can leave on 24/7 that isn’t your primary gaming PC.

Either way, if you want to host an Arma 3 dedicated server, here’s a tutorial for you:

Conclusion

Arma 3 is an awesome game that’s better played with friends.

If you want to take full control over your Arma 3 experience, hosting your own server is the move.